Hundreds of strike-affected patients add to backlog

Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Hundreds of patients have added to the backlog waiting for images and surgery during a national radiographers' strike.

Radiographers walked off the job on Friday after 11th-hour talks with district health board representatives failed to break a contract-negotiation deadlock.

Central Auckland hospitals appeared to be coping with the three-day strike, which finished yesterday.

Members of the radiographers' union, Apex, agreed to be available for life-preserving and limb-preserving work.

Auckland DHB spokesman Matthew Rogers said disruption had been limited.

Elective surgery was cancelled at the Auckland City and Starship hospitals to try to cope with the strike.

But chief medical officer Margaret Wilsher said a huge backlog of patients was waiting for images and surgery.

Dr Wilsher has been looking after patients affected by the strike and helping to provide care at Auckland City Hospital.

She said radiographers would take the day off today and would join in national strike action tomorrow, before preparing for a lab workers' strike on Friday.

"We won't be gearing up our hospital until all this industrial unrest has settled down. We've only got six non-union staff in total, and we've been using them during the day and calling life-preserving services in the evening and at night.

"People can only have imaging if it's life- or limb-threatening. So there are a lot of people sitting around who have not had imaging this weekend.

"We've already got hundreds of people waiting for images and surgery."

Two unions are involved in the strike - Medical Laboratory Workers and Medical Radiation Technologists.

"There have been rolling strikes throughout the country from both radiation technologists and laboratory workers for the past three months.

"A full nationwide strike will happen on Tuesday for radiation technologists, and more than one DHB will be affected by the lab workers' strike on Friday," Dr Wilsher said.

Bernadette Gourley, spokeswoman for Apex, said the workers had hoped the three-day strike action would not be necessary and that negotiations with the DHBs yesterday would result in a settlement, but these had been unproductive.

"There have been no issues or problems around the strike. The low-level action has continued around the rest of New Zealand this weekend, with no problems."

Christchurch radiographers abandoned their strike action after the earthquake.

- NZPA